


Mutterings of all Your Fears

by timeless_alice



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-22 22:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeless_alice/pseuds/timeless_alice
Summary: A few months into dating, Stan has a nightmare while Patricia spends the night at his dorm.
Relationships: Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Mutterings of all Your Fears

It was the kind of weekend where, in the absence of roommates who were off visiting someone or other, Patty would spend the night with Stan. The two squeezed together in Stan's dorm standard bed, Patty curled against Stan's side with his arm wrapped loosely around her; he had fallen asleep long before she did, as was often was the case, and she nuzzled closer to him. Leaning into that swell of warmth in her stomach that spread through her with that closeness that some part of her could still hardly believe.

In the still of the night she listened to the steady pulse of his heart and beneath the palm laid against flannel pajamas she could feel the gentle rise and fall of his belly with each breath he took. And with her own breath she took him in, the scent of soap and pine needles and the nature that he loved so much that seemed to cling to every inch of him, no matter what he did. It was in moments like these beyond all others that Patricia was sure of her love for him. The kind that sank through the skin to course through the veins and wind around the bones until it settled there; as a part of you as anything else had been.

At any rate, what this was certainly did not feel like the kind of fleeting love she had experienced in high school.

After some time like that, she dozed off with her face still partially buried against his chest. And she would have stayed that way, had Stan not awoken. In times before, he would ease out from under her to do whatever it was he had to do before returning to bed and taking up space beside her once again, careful not to disturb her. But this was not like that: a sudden sharp intake of air that seized through the whole body and a flailing push snapped Patty out of sleep. Her back made contact with the dorm wall, not enough to hurt but enough to shake her fully awake, moments before she heard the sharp thud of Stan hitting the floor.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark of the room, with only moonlight filtering in through the blinds, but she could make out the silhouette of Stan scrambling away from her and the bed until his back crashed against his desk with enough force to rattle its occupants. And there he stopped, pulling his knees to his chest with his hands planted on either side of him. She could see his chest fluttering and could hear, however faintly, the gasping breaths. Gathering herself, ignoring the loud pulsing in her ears and the panic that was beginning to snake its way from where it roiled in her stomach to push against her throat, Patty leaned over the edge of the bed to turn on the lamp beside it.

Just like that the room was awash in its gentle glow, and Stan's attention - eyes narrowed against the sudden light - snapped to it. Everything about him was poised to run, whole frame tensed like a frightened animal. He didn't even seem to notice her, not until she moved to stand and gently pad across the room to crouch in front of him. He watched her without wholly seeing her, and something twisted in her chest as her heart ached.

"Stanley," she said in a low voice, reaching out a hand with slow deliberation with intent to cup his cheek.

She stopped when he flinched away, a hand flying up to rub at his jaw and pulling it away to examine his palm as if expecting something to be there. He made a soft hiccuping sound that bordered on a sob, brows creasing in confusion when there was nothing there. Both hands pulled at the skin, drawing towards his ears, seeking something that wasn't there. A single blink before eyes shining with tears rose back up to meet her, recognition finally creeping in.

There was a long heartbeat of nothing, that confused panic still etched into his features, before he managed to choke out, "Patty." Another blink, that frantic rise and fall of his chest pausing just enough for a single deep breath that rattled in her ears. 

"I'm here, baby," she said, taking that moment to press a palm to his cheek and brush dark curls away from his forehead. Skin clammy and slick with sweat trembled under her touch, like he was going to shatter at that moment. But he leaned into her, and some degree of tension in her shoulders unwound at the recognition. Not by much, but it was something. "You just had a nightmare."

Teeth buried into his lip, worrying at the skin there as if he wasn't quite sure what it was, before he gave a curt nod. A tear escaped past his eyelashes and she brushed it away with the pad of her thumb, puzzling over that brief moment of uncertainty. It would linger in her mind, but it wasn't the moment to press on that angle. Not then. Instead, she maneuvered so that she was sat beside him. Without needing guidance he leaned against her shoulder, and her fingers found their way to curl through his hair in gentle strokes. Just until he calmed down. It did not take long for his breath to slow into something resembling normal, though it took longer for the shaking to subside. She could feel moisture against her shoulder as tears soaked into the fabric of her pajamas, not that she was in the state of mind to care.

Eventually, the silence was broken by a soft muttered, "Sorry."

Patty paused in running her fingers through his hair for the briefest of moments before saying, "For what?"

"Waking you up."

Fingers resumed their careful patterns. "It's okay." Him having woken her seemed to be the least of the issues of the night, and she bit back on adding "I'm worried." Instead, she said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

She wasn't exactly sure if she was surprised when he shook his head. She wasn't sure how she felt, really, though it seemed like concern was settling across her bones to take root there.

"It's- It's nothing." A shudder passed through him, and he pressed closer to her. "Just a bad nightmare."

"Are you sure you don't?" she asked, unable to keep worry out of her voice. It seemed to cling to every word, infiltrating every syllable until it dripped with it. "You scared me."

His hand reached out to rest against her knee, giving a slight squeeze. "Sorry I scared you," he repeated, voice a little steadier. He cleared his throat and sniffled before he added, "I don't even remember what it was." There was something in his tone, hidden under a thin veneer of humor, something she couldn't quite place that she mulled over for a moment before tucking it away. Dreams were odd in that way, they seemed so real until the details slipped through your fingers like sand.

Her hand went to cover his, moving so that their fingers laced together. She nuzzled against him, and said, "Don't apologize." Her lips quirked into a small smile, as exhaustion crept in from the corners of her mind. The adrenaline of the moment evaporating into nothing as things settled down, though that ache of worry remained. "It happens."

She paused just short of giving him a kiss, an awkward hesitance flashing through her born from their scant few months of dating, before she shook that off and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. It was not the time to let such things hold her back, and he responded by humming softly, melting against her. Even still she could feel the remnants of tension in his shoulders, something she couldn't smooth away.

"I want you to know," she murmured, "that you can always talk to me. Okay?"

"Okay." A pause, then a soft, "I love you, Patty." Just barely above a whisper.

"I love you too, Stanley."

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this in a frenzy between midnight and three am last night so if there are mistakes let me know
> 
> anyway. find me on tumblr at timelessmulder and twitter at timelessalice
> 
> title from the horror and the wild by amazing devil


End file.
